Give Thanks!

I spent yesterday baking all day.  Today I was up at 7:30 to put in the 15 pound bird.  Three hungry people plus one 15 pound bird......I'm pretty sure that leaves lots and lots of leftovers.  Mmmmmm!  It Was Good!  It's nap time around here for most.

Since most of my work was done yesterday...... today, I've been working on those half square triangles I made from scraps.  Remember that I said, "if you make them, a quilt will come".  Well, it's starting to materialize.   I really think it is going to be special.  Neat secondary pattern as well. 

 I'll have to remember this the next time I get stifled by my perfectionism.

Lizzie is Home!

I picked her up last night on my way home from work.  It was such a shock when they called to tell me that she was ready to go home.  I was so sure that there would be something terrible wrong with her.  

I took her to Allbrands.  I know.  I  know.  It seems that everybody I know has something terrible to say about them.  Well, mostly about him.  Well, I was really hesitant to take Lizzie there, but they have always treated me well, so I decided to give it a try.  I took her in on Saturday and she was ready on Tuesday.  Pretty darn good turn around time if you ask me.  The ladies I dealt with were extremely nice and patient with my questions and I had a wonderful experience.  If you were one of those treated badly in the past, you might think of giving them another try.  Just saying......

I have yet to see how she sews (other than the sew off scrap that was attached when I got her back.  I have lots to do today - baking a pound cake and a couple of pecan pies as well as making jello salad.  And besides that, I want to bask in the fantasy that she will sew like the wind when I am ready to get caught up on this pile of UFOs.  For today, or this morning at least, I will rejoice in the joy of holiday cooking.  Maybe this evening I'll get back to Lizzie.

Inspiration!

Have you ever had this happen to you?  I feel the urge to sew but I can't decide on what to sew.  Either I have too many ideas or not enough or don't have the right fabric or something.  Maybe I'm just a perfectionist and since I can't find the perfect thing, I never seem to get away from the starting line.

Today I decided to follow Bonnie Hunter's example.  I found a stack of 5 1/2" squares that were leftover from a scrap quilt I did ages ago.  I decided that I was going to go through my scraps and make half square triangles.  That's it.  No specific quilt in mind.  Just one of those "if you sew them, a quilt will come" kind of things.  A leap of faith, so to speak.  

Well, I had lots more scraps than expected that were at least 5 1/2" square and up to 6 1/2" square so I got started.  I think I made at least 220 half square triangles in no time at all. 

What a sense of accomplishment!  

For now, they are sewn and divided.  I'll leave the ironing and squaring for another day when the light is better in the sewing room.......

Don't gloss over Thanksgiving!

I was looking at the paper today and several stores are starting their sales on Thanksgiving Day at 8:00 pm or so.  I can't believe it.  It's bad enough that they start playing the Christmas songs in the stores before Halloween.  Can we get through one holiday before they rush the next one?  

Thanksgiving should not be rushed!  We should take some time to really be thankful for all that we have.  I don't know about you, but I will NOT be shopping on Thanksgiving.

Lizzie is in time out

Took Lizzie to the shop today.  She has been acting up.  Sometimes she refuses to needle down.  Other times she breaks the thread for no reason whatsoever.  Last night I was trying to get her to straighten up and instead, I got really fed up..... so I decided it was somebody else's turn to get her in line.  Maybe she will listen to somebody else. Maybe she will even realize how good she has had it here with me.   I hope that we can be friends again and that she learns a bit of respect while she is away in time out.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today was my mother's 78th birthday.  She is amazing. Some days (most of them actually) she wears me out. She has always had boundless energy.  We went to the DMV to renew her driver's license and then we went to get our hair cut.  Just a regular day.  She got lots of emails and ecards and Facebook posts.  She is well loved!

Tonight she and I and my brother Mike went to Roberto's Restaurant on River Road in St. Gabriel.  Doesn't look like much on the outside, but great food on the inside. Great catfish! We may be dozing off shortly.......

Hectic days!

The Quilt Shop where I work "part time" is having its Grand Opening this Thursday, so we have been frantically getting things ready.  

I have worked at least part of the last 2 weekends trying to get more and more items into the bar code Point of Sale system.  We can still check out other things that are not bar coded, but the bar coded ones will go a lot quicker.  

Plus, we've had new furniture delivered several times, so we've had to rearranged the store fixtures again and again.  

And every day UPS or FedEx or USPS or all of them are delivering more and more fabric! We got 4 boxes of fabric today along with a new shelving unit for the store room, which needed to be put together.  Then of course, we had to organize the store room.  And there's the big splash of Downton Abbey fabric which came in late on Friday.  All of that had to be priced, bar coded, and loaded onto the web site.

I'll be glad when Thursday is over!

A Weekend Getaway

Friday, Mom and I headed out for Natchitoches, Louisiana (the earliest permanent settlement in the Louisiana Purchase). Her brother (my Uncle Harvey) is there. His wife's mother is 96 and needs taking care of.  Her sister usually does that but is currently going through chemo, so they are down here from Oregon for about 8 months or so.  Anyway, this was our first trip to visit.  We had a really nice time.  

Harvey put us up in a local bed and breakfast Andrew Morris House, because Mom's birthday is coming and he wanted to do something special for us.  It was a really nice experience.  I've never stayed in a bed and breakfast before.  It was a neat old home.  It had those ceiling tiles with the little holes in them like the ones in my grandma's old house.  It was quiet as a mouse in there and very comfortable.  Breakfast was great as well. We had raspberry bread pudding as an appetizer. I always thought dessert first was a great idea.  We had a rolled omelet and southwest grits and biscuits.  There was also a juice that was a mixture of orange juice and cranberry.  Not something I ever would have thought of but it was very good.

We got a chance to visit with his sister-in-law and encourage her interest in quilting.

We also went out to dinner at a really nice restaurant on the Sibley Lake and saw a wonderful sunset.  

Cold Nights and Quilts

I remember when I was young, I visited my Grandma and we slept under the weight of several quilts.  It seemed like they were piled to the sky.  There is a certain comfort and security in the weight of all that warmth.

For now, I sleep in a twin bed, but never alone.  I either have one long legged crazy dog or one really fat cat that likes to sleep on my head or on my chest or I have one other cat that sleeps by my feet.  On rare occasions, I have all three and maybe even some others. I mean, whose bed is it anyway?

Up until now, it's been warm at night, especially with all of those extra bodies in the bed, and I am forced to sleep with a fan, or freeze out everybody in the house.  But last night, was our first cold night.  I loved it!  The only problem is that big lanky dog hogs the covers and my butt ends up hanging out of the covers.  Now before last night, no worries, but last night, it was not acceptable.  

So today, I placed my queen sized Blooming Nine Patch on my twin sized bed.  All those extra little seams in there make this quilt a little heavier than normal and I can't wait to snuggle in there tonight.  Doesn't it look comfy?

Excuses! Excuses!

Well, at first I couldn't post anything good because the projects I am working on are secret.   They are either Secret Pal gifts or Christmas Presents.  Then, I was working so much I was never here.  All that is bull and I know it too.  I've just been lazy.

I work in a quilt shop and we have just moved into a store front on October 1.  We spent lots of time arranging the store and setting up new procedures for how to do things.  And then there's my never ending job of pricing and posting to the web every single piece of inventory that arrives at the shop.  My boss has gone crazy ordering and I have just been buried under a pile of new merchandise.  

Then she and the only full time employee went to market and I was left running the store.  It was a bit of pressure as I waved goodbye holding all of my hastily scribbled lists of things to do.  Luckily, they were always available via phone and text.  Isn't amazing how times have changed!  I had to stretch my comfort zones doing things I don't normally do and and totally not comfortable with, but I survived.

I even went to a retreat on the weekend between the days I was in charge.  Can't show you those pictures either.  Sorry.

I can show you one picture though.  It is a Blooming Nine Patch made from Jane Sasseman fabric.  This was a work in progress for ....... well, since February of 2010.  I found the picture in a group from a retreat of that weekend.  It's finally done and I absolutely love it.  I finished the binding at retreat and I slept under it all weekend, even while the binding was only half done.  This one will be mine!